Arsène Wenger and other big names turn down Fulham job

Arsène Wenger, Andre Villa-Boas and former Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim are just some of the big names that turned down the chance to manage Fulham, before the job was finally given to Claudio Ranieri.

Fulham, bottom of the table, became the first club to sack their manager Slaviša Jokanović on Wednesday, appointing former Leicester City and Chelsea manager Ranieri in his place on a “multi-year” contract.

However, it now appears that the 67-year old Italian was not necessarily the Fulham Board’s first choice, with The Daily Mirror reporting that Wenger turned the job down, whilst The Telegraph reports that former Chelsea and Spurs’ boss Villas-Boas and Jardim also rejected the chance to move into the hot seat at Craven Cottage.

It has been a disappointing start to the season for Fulham. Having achieved promotion to the top flight last May through the play-offs they spent over £100 million on new players in the summer. However, their side has looked desperately unbalanced this season, and many of the new players have failed to gel. The club’s supporters will be hoping that Ranieri’s experience and eye for a player can help steer them up the table.

Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.